Downfall of the Resistance
by WhereLieAngels
Summary: Alternatively, Where the World Gets Counter Guardians From Other Universes. A fake policewoman, a fake streetsweeper and a teddy bear walk into a bar. Alaya offers all of them drinks. Maplestory/Nasuverse Crossover, set in the Maple World. Dammed and bloody contracts will be made. Short story, maximum 3 chapters of medium to miniscule length.
1. Death

Part 1: Downfall of the Wild Hunter

Edelstein burned. Long a city home to the resistance against the Black Wings, Edelstein had finally been targeted when the Black Wings decided that it had outlived its usefulness, when underground rebellion became open defiance. When the Resistance had forcefully removed all Black Wing sympathizers from the city limits and enclosed it in a bounded field.

All around her hometown, buildings were ablaze and fallen rubble smoldered with the remains of dark energy and fire. Belle exhaled as Blackjack, her faithful jaguar, paced the anxiously beside her.

"Don't worry yet." She stroked her animal companion's midnight-black fur. "Some buildings might have collapsed, but they can't actually come into the city unless the barrier-"

A loud boom reached her ears. She looked up to find the sky distorted with cursed mana, as if someone had torn out strips from it.

"-falls."

* * *

A blast of pure, dark energy had completely shattered the magical shell the Resistance had built and maintained to keep the Black Wings out. More specifically, the magical shield that Brighton had designed, maintained, and tied to himself was now non-existent.

And now, her longtime ally and eternal friend, the Battle Magician who was always kind to everyone, upbeat, enthusiastic but still humble, the wizard who could destroy a horde of monsters with a single swing of his staff-Brighton lay dead, slumped against a wall a distance away. The extreme measures the first Battle Mage had took to preserve the barrier, including literally binding it to his soul, had finally taken its toll on him.

There was no time to waste. Swinging herself to ride atop Blackjack, Belle rode into the chaos of battle.

It was going to be a tough fight. Gelimer's accursed Androids were slowly but surely overwhelming the meagre numbers of Resistance members, no matter how skilled they were. Trust her, she knew. Some of them had actually surpassed her in power or skill, and a squadron of her Wild Hunters had actually infiltrated the Black Wings' Headquarters in the Leben Mine that time she had been kidnapped while off-guard and weakened.

She had been proud of them, proud that they had the courage, and the tenacity to keep their heads on even as their leader, her, was captured. Even so, in this fight, it didn't matter. They dropped like flies against sheer numbers. Her heart, numb from Brighton's sudden death, was slowly breaking as she saw her students die in front of her very eyes. Bright young men and women, who could have become so much more if not for the war- all lay dead in the burning city of Edelstein.

She hardened her heart and kept on shooting, and riding, and shouting words of encouragement that didn't really echo truly within her. They had to hold out until the reinforcements from Orbis arrived.

A few weeks ago, she had sent a message to Erev requesting help from the Knights of Cygnus to deliver a decisive first strike against the Black Wings. Nineheart and the Knight Commanders had approved, but there hadn't been time to coordinate properly. The Black Wings had struck first, and the barrier had held long enough -over a span of thirty-six hours, in fact- for her to have sent out an emergency message requesting assistance and received an affirmative.  
It took all she had to keep fighting, but it wasn't enough. She kept on riding, and relentlessly shooting, and trying to rally the troops, but she knew, deep in her heart, that she, and Edelstein as she had known it, would be dead after today.

That was when she felt herself thrown to one side suddenly, violently, as her animal instinct sensed a fast-moving pulse of dark energy directed toward her, too quickly to evade-

Blackjack shook her off and absorbed the blast in her stead.

A touch of cold steel reached her heart, before her whole self was wracked in terrible pain. The pain was not mere emotional anguish. It was a manaic reaction, a shock that occurred when the bonds between Rider and Jaguar were eliminated.

For a moment, her vision blurred out-  
-before cold clarity returned, for her to see the crumpled form of her steed and his killer standing before her.

Orchid. Ex-commander of the Black Mage, and leader of the Black Wings, levitated in the air a few metres away, a smirk on her face.

"Isn't it sad, Belle? Would you like me to end your misery for you~? Oh, a better idea! Follow your pet to the netherworld, you stupid little g-"

"DIE, ORCHID! WILD ARROW BLAST!" Belle mind was in tatters. Even so, pure anger fueled her intentions, and a storm of soul arrows blasted towards the dark witch. Orchid's power increased, she thought. Consumed Rue energy in the ore. In the mines. Rue ore. Mines. Energy. Dark. Pain. Brighton dead. Students dying. Blackjack dead. DEADDEADDEADDEADEAD-

A runaway stream of chaotic thought condensed into cold, hopeless anger.

Even as she silently screamed in her mind, not a single attack reached Orchid. Even as she doggedly fired with a body devoid of hope, not a single arrow touched Orchid.

"It was too bad you all needed to die. How about I be charitable today, and end it quickly for you? It's no fun playing with a broken toy."

Even before the dark spell killed her, Belle was already dead. Her last thoughts were of despair, and hopelessness, and surging anger that she could not do more-


	2. Pact

Part 2 - Pact of the Battle Mage

It all happened too fast.

The dark magic that collapsed the protection shield was of a magnitude of power unseen. I assure you, as the pioneer of the Battle Magicians, and as a citizen of Edelstein where dark energy lingered day and night in the air, I have seen and experienced plenty of that kind of magic. I used it, after all.

But never before in such high concentration and power. Even my Dark Genesis was more controlled and precise. But this, this was something else. The caster didn't hold back, didn't bother to limit him or herself, just concentrated a large amount of energy and pointed it in the city's direction.

It didn't matter to me. Once the barrier fully collapses in a few minutes, give or take, the resulting manaic shock would instantly kill me. It would just plow right through my physical body, tearing my soul from it. The barrier was a modified version of the Blue Aura magic that I used. It was dependent on the soul of the caster, and the soul of the caster would be tied to it. I would go on about the chaotic nature of Soul Magics, but I have a few minutes to live, so you'll have to excuse me.

I turned to talk to Belle-  
-and collapsed dead on the ground. Wait, how was I thinking again? My soul should have been irreversibly damaged and severed from my body, but I could still-  
Nope, can't see, or hear, or talk. Definitely dead. And yet I still felt inwardly pissed. All this time, I was being as happy as possible, trying to get the others to enjoy the lives we'd been given (however unlucky that was), trying to keep everybody's spirits up...all this ended today. If only I had a bit more power to keep everyone safe. With a bit more power, I could protected the town. Saved my townspeople. Kept the boys and girls whom I've taught to fight, alive.

As a dead spirit, I could lament about all the "if only" scenarios I wished. If only I had more power, more strength, more foresight, more time...

"Screw you, world." I muttered into the white void.

[That would be a terrible idea, as I have what you want.]

"Not really, world, not really. But I'll find a way, sooner or later. Even with the amount of blood I'll have on my hands by that time, I'll still find a way. And then you're gonna offer this to my other two friends who'll probably accept. Going with the 'one for all, all for one' creed that the Resistance seems to have, I'll accept this goddamned bloody contract."

[You're now my Guardian, human. And also you'll become dammed and bloody soon.]

"I didn't know you had a sense of humour, Alaya."

[Hmm, you're one of those in this world that actually know my true name. How interesting.]

"I snuck out of Edelstein to read certain interesting books. I hope you appreciate it."

* * *

Author's Note: "Manaic" and "maniac" are different words. "Manaic" refers to things pertaining to mana, or magic. Such as shock when too much magic goes into your system. "Maniac", as defined by , means "a raving or violently insane person; lunatic". Which is probably what any reader of this story views me as.


End file.
